My vocabulary is ridiculously limited. I decided my apartment needed a new touch of greenery, and my cat had destroyed most of my plants and vases. So, I headed out to the plant market for an apartment spruce-up. As I was looking at and buying plants, I needed to ask if plants were safe for my cat to munch on. Here’s how the conversation transpired.
Me: Wo you mao.
Me: Wo de mao xi wan (pantomime chomping/biting) zhe ge (pointing to plants).
Me: Hao bu hao?
Translation:
Me: I have cat.
Me: My cat likes to “chomp” this “plant”.
Me: Is that okay?
It sounds Neanderthal-esque, but it worked.
That, my friends, is called "survival Mandarin".
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